UK Borders Bill

My Lords, the Minister will recall the discussion that we had in Grand Committee on an amendment tabled by the noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, concerning the lack of powers in Clauses 1 to 4 for immigration officers north of the Border. The issue was not that the functions were devolved, but simply that immigration officers, particularly those operating in remote areas of Scotland such as Shetland, did not have these powers conferred on them and would therefore always have to wait for a police officer to arrive when it was necessary to arrest someone. While that may not have mattered very much in the past, there was a particular case—which I think the noble Duke raised—of a person who arrived by cruise liner in Shetland, where there was one immigration officer to deal with several thousand individuals on the ship. This passenger slipped past the Immigration Service and committed a serious crime in Aberdeen, which was highlighted in the Scottish press at the time. So the question was: have the Government had further discussions with the Scottish Executive on whether these powers should be extended to Scotland or on whether they will be capable of dealing with the changed situation in some of the ports in Scotland where a large number of people are presenting themselves to a small coterie of immigration officers who do not have the backing of the police on the spot? I hope that I have interpreted what the noble Duke said with sufficient accuracy.